Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr A Khan and Dr K Muneer’s practice on 26 July 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led care for all of the population groups it serves.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• There was a clear leadership structure, staff were aware of their roles and responsibilities and told us the GPs were accessible and supportive. There was evidence of an inclusive team approach to providing services and care for patients.
• Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following local and national care pathways and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance.
• There was good access to clinicians and patients said they found it generally easy to make an appointment. There was continuity of care and if urgent care was needed patients were seen on the same day as requested.
• Information regarding the services provided by the practice and how to make a complaint was readily available for patients.
• The practice sought views on how improvements could be made to the service, through the use of patient surveys, the NHS Friends and Family Test and engagement with patients and their local community.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• The practice had a very organised approach to working systems and processes, which was evidenced in their policies, staff personnel files and locum recruitment.
• There was a system in place whereby after all policies had been updated, they were reviewed and signed off by one of the GP partners. We saw evidence of the signed and dated signatory sheet for all policies. Policies were available to all staff via the computer or as a paper copy.
• There were safeguarding systems in place to protect patients and staff from abuse.
• The practice promoted a culture of openness and honesty. There was a nominated lead who had a very organised approach for dealing with significant events. All staff were encouraged and supported to record any incidents using the electronic reporting system. There was evidence of good investigation, learning and sharing mechanisms in place.
• The practice complied with the requirements of the duty of candour. (The duty of candour is a set of specific legal requirements that providers of services must follow when things go wrong with care and treatment.)

We saw an area of outstanding practice:

• Patient comments we received were overwhelmingly positive about the practice. The last two national patient surveys regarding the practice, had shown that patient averages for positive experiences were consistently higher than local and national averages. For example:
• 96% of respondents said they could easily get through to the practice by telephone, compared to 68% locally and 73% nationally.
• 99% of respondents said the last appointment they got was convenient, compared to 91% locally and 92% nationally.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice